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Is Eldrick Woods done being the best?

#101
11 years since his last major. Yeah, I'd be stoked too.
As a fan, it is so awesome to see this again. I got goosebumps and jumped up out of my seat as that putt hit the bottom of the cup. Watching him celebrate with his mom and family was great too.

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-Mike
 
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#102
I'm late to the thread, but all I had to do was read the first post and jump to here.....spanning seven years.....

Rhetorically: How do you feel about Tiger's mojo now? (It's baaaa-aaack...)

I'm glad to have him back on top today. Golf is a better game and a more popular sport nationally when Tiger is a winner.

Good for you, Tiger!
 
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#103
One of the greats for sure. Personally, don't watch tournaments he is in anymore. He could be 8 shots back on Sunday and they show every step he takes. It's overkill for me. I get it, he equals a huge ratings jump but I think it's a disservice to the other golfer's.
 
#105
It's truly an amazing comeback. He has bounced back from a lot personally, physically, legally, and mentally. It takes a lot to climb out of the hole he had dug for himself. But he did it.

I'm all for second chances. I really hope he still isn't the horrible human he was for a while. (Sexual addiction? Gimme a break.)

Here's hoping he's back in track OFF the course as well as on it.

Personal problems aside, he's up there in Michael Jordan territory as far as champions go.... and influence on his sport. You can count on one hand the number of people who have meant as much to a sport.

Congrats to him and to golf fans in general.
 
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#110
What a comeback. Molinari all but had it going into Sunday, with Schauffele, Koepka, DJ, and Finau all good bets, but Tiger showed why he was the definition of clutch for almost a decade. Do I think he's the GOAT? Not yet, Jack still has better stats and competition keeping him on the throne, but if Tiger can win another major against this level of competition we'll see a dethroning.

In case anyone is wondering why this is such a big deal....

1. When Tiger won his first jacket in 1997, not only did it follow the collapse of Greg Norman (the man who was the reason I first picked up links in the early 90s) a year prior, but Tiger, who had just turned pro, stepped into his first major and absolutely ****ing DOMINATED. He single-handedly changed the game with his play style and "unconventional" training (at the time he was the only player lifting heavy weights and, IIRC, doing extreme swing resistance training); after his 2005 jacket Augusta had their most recent and extreme redesign in decades to "Tiger proof" the course. Every other championship course had done the same. His success, domination, and the swagger he injected into golf....

2. ... brought in a countless number of fans of the sport and led to an explosion in golf's popularity. Almost every player on the tour under 30 says Tiger is the reason they started playing, and they all train like him - heavy weights, more resistance training, analytics, and multiple coaches. Tiger is over a decade older than all those kids who play just as good as he did in the late 90s, so there is absolutely no reason he should have even been in contention. That's why Vegas had such crappy odds on him (-4600 at the start of the year, 14:1 going into the Masters) and why bookies all over took a very cold wash today.

3. Tiger was the world number 1 for 683 weeks, 281 of those being consecutive; both are records. After his scandals (which I in no way approve of or condone. Yes I am aware of the irony after saying The Shark was the reason I started playing), his injuries, and other bad decisions his ranking fell to 1,199 in the world. This point last year he was saying he would probably never play professionally again. Yet he got to don the green jacket a fifth time yesterday and looks like he could easily win another major or two before 45.
 
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#111
charlie monroe said:
Who are you speaking for?
Click to expand...

What I see in the media, as a rather voracious consumer of it. When he was winning, all you heard was how he did on the course (which is right). Then once he stopped, all you heard was how he acted with his wife, and all his affairs (and how she acted in return), and interactions with the police and such. He wins the Masters, and suddenly, he is golf's king again, and all the talk is about whether he suddenly has recovered, and will win all the majors this season.
 
#112
buldog5151bass said:
What I see in the media, as a rather voracious consumer of it. When he was winning, all you heard was how he did on the course (which is right). Then once he stopped, all you heard was how he acted with his wife, and all his affairs (and how she acted in return), and interactions with the police and such. He wins the Masters, and suddenly, he is golf's king again, and all the talk is about whether he suddenly has recovered, and will win all the majors this season.
Click to expand...

That seems to be the MO for scandals, regardless of who it is. If we knew about the affairs at the time I doubt he'd be as vaulted as he was, nor would he have been a billionaire through endorsements. Unless my history is fuzzy, he stopped playing because of the affairs.

I wouldn't say he's golf's king again, but like I mentioned earlier he lit the golf world on fire 20 years ago and a lot of people are stoked to see the guy they idolized for a decade back in form.
 
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#113
buldog5151bass said:
What I see in the media, as a rather voracious consumer of it. When he was winning, all you heard was how he did on the course (which is right). Then once he stopped, all you heard was how he acted with his wife, and all his affairs (and how she acted in return), and interactions with the police and such. He wins the Masters, and suddenly, he is golf's king again, and all the talk is about whether he suddenly has recovered, and will win all the majors this season.
Click to expand...

So you are speaking for profit driven media outlets, and not the public at large.

Thanks.
 
#114
charlie monroe said:
So you are speaking for profit driven media outlets, and not the public at large.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I was commenting about the media in general, but yes, the general public echoed this (as you would expect).

I was glad to see him win - the sport needs him, as most golfers do not excite the public in the same way. I do think it is a shame how scandals affect people's view of celebrities.

MHO.
 
#118
buldog5151bass said:
He is the ultimate example of how we view celebrities. When he was winning, no one cared how he acted off the course. When he stopped winning, it was all everyone talked about. Now one big victory, and all if forgiven/forgotten.
Click to expand...

charlie monroe said:
Who are you speaking for?
Click to expand...

buldog5151bass said:
What I see in the media, as a rather voracious consumer of it. When he was winning, all you heard was how he did on the course (which is right). Then once he stopped, all you heard was how he acted with his wife, and all his affairs (and how she acted in return), and interactions with the police and such. He wins the Masters, and suddenly, he is golf's king again, and all the talk is about whether he suddenly has recovered, and will win all the majors this season.
Click to expand...

charlie monroe said:
So you are speaking for profit driven media outlets, and not the public at large.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

buldog5151bass said:
I was commenting about the media in general, but yes, the general public echoed this (as you would expect).

I was glad to see him win - the sport needs him, as most golfers do not excite the public in the same way. I do think it is a shame how scandals affect people's view of celebrities.

MHO.
Click to expand...

charlie monroe said:
I think it is a shame the way the media attempts to shape discussions instead of reporting on discussions.
Click to expand...

buldog5151bass said:
It's not the job of the media to report on discussions. They should be reporting the news.
Click to expand...

charlie monroe said:
Well, you've thrown a wide net.

The term media can describe news, entertainment, etc.

And fair enough. You can change the word I used, discussions, and exchange it for events - if we are talking about news media.
Click to expand...
This discussion ignores the simple fact, already pointed out above (yet still ignored) that Woods' affairs were unknown until the incident where he hit that tree. How the heck is that the media's fault?

And it's now been some 9-10 years since that incident so yeah, his history of affairs has gone on the back burner of late. This happens both in the media and in real life. It would be a misrepresentation of coverage, by the way, to claim that the media switched overnight from talking about his sordid past to only this title.
 
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#119
GregC said:
This discussion ignores the simple fact, already pointed out above (yet still ignored) that Woods' affairs were unknown until the incident where he hit that tree. How the heck is that the media's fault?

And it's now been some 9-10 years since that incident so yeah, his history of affairs has gone on the back burner of late. This happens both in the media and in real life. It would be a misrepresentation of coverage, by the way, to claim that the media switched overnight from talking about his sordid past to only this title.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling that people would have found out about them if they had looked with 1/10 of the vigor that they did afterward. It's also the fact that with this one win, suddenly no one cares about them. He's still the same person he was when he did what he did to his partner. But winning makes all that go away, and Tiger worship is back.
 
#120
buldog5151bass said:
He's still the same person he was when he did what he did to his partner.
Click to expand...
Well...we know he's the same human being, but we don't know he's the same person...

A person can experience a tremendous amount of maturity and growth in 9-10 years. He's still Tiger Woods (obviously; he didn't morph into a different human), but he may be a very different person after everything, both self-inflicted and not self-inflicted, that he's been through. Only Tiger himself, and the people closest to him, know for sure.

Because of that, I'm just going to celebrate what Tiger's doing on the golf course, unless he does something in the future to convince me to think otherwise. From what I can see, he's paid his dues.
 
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